Cybersecurity concerns continue to feature at organisations globally, with more and more companies concerned about vulnerabilities and threats to their networks. Identifying suspicious activity on IoT networks and mobile device misuse remain key areas of concern, as is the poor security behaviour/awareness of personnel. Those charged with defending businesses tend to be underfunded and misunderstood.

Digitalisation of business processes, as well as the addition of a host of devices to the wider business network, is able to drive a range of benefits, flow lower costs to improved maintenance outcomes. The new technology is not without problems however, Internet of Things devices are, in particular, prone to security vulnerabilities, creating a swathe of additional channels through which hackers might be able to infiltrate otherwise secure networks. Cyber attacks global had an estimated economic impact of $400 billion in 2016.

To better understand the current state of company defences, EY ran a survey titled ‘EY’s Global Information Security Survey’, which looked at the current practices reported by 1,735 participants from global business across 20 sectors.

The study found that when it comes to securing their IoT devices across their networks, 49% cited identifying suspicious traffic over the network as a challenge, followed by 46% that cited ‘ensuring that the implemented security controls are meeting the requirements of today. Losing track of IoT devices is third equal, with 46% of respondents saying that ‘knowing all their assets’ is a challenge.

The areas of least concern to respondents regarding their IoT devices’ information security is the ‘defining and monitoring of the perimeters of the businesses ecosystem’, cited by 34% of respondents, ‘managing the growth in access points to their organisation’, cited by 35% of respondents, and ‘finding hidden or unknown zero-day attacks’, cited by 40% of respondents.

Aside from the broad range of IoT on the network, company are also increasingly concerned about mobile devices. These devices, which often leave the business premises and are used on networks outside the business environment, pose a variety of risks.

The firm found that the biggest concern companies have with the devices, is ‘poor user awareness/behaviour’, cited by 50% of respondents. Business user losing one of their devices has increasingly detrimental consequences for both users and companies, which, aside from information, now also includes a loss of identity – cited as a risk by 50% of respondents. The hijacking of devices comes third, cited by 32% of respondents as an issue.

Areas of least risk are cited as ‘hardware interoperability issues of devices’, which around 16% of respondents noted as an issue, followed by ‘organised cyber criminals selling hardware with Trojans or backdoors already installed, cited by 19% as an issue.

Resisting cyber-attacks is another key method for avoiding being penetrated by cybercriminals. The survey therefore asked respondents to explicate how they are focusing on mitigating potential risks to limit the number of threat avenues. The research shows that across the board, companies have become more concerned about vulnerabilities and threats to their organisation in 2016, compared to 2015.

The survey therefore asked respondents to disclose which threats and vulnerabilities have most increased your risk exposure over the last 12 months. The results highlight that the areas in which business feel vulnerable is changing: businesses have again become concerns about careless or unaware employees, up from 44% of respondents in 2015 to 55% in 2016, this is followed by outdated information security or architecture, where risks of exposure has increased from 34% of respondents to 48%.

The threats landscape too has shifted somewhat, with malware becoming increasingly seen as a problem, up from 43% in 2015 to 52% last year, while phishing threats have increased from 44% of respondents to 51% this year.

The research also sought to identify obstacles and reasons challenging the information security operation’s contribution and value to the organisation. The biggest cited reason (by 61% of respondents) is that cyber security operations have budget constraints, the department is often seen as a cost post with the value of a stopped attack not easily seen by management. A lack of skilled people comes next, cited by 56% of respondents, while a lack of executive awareness or support takes the number three spot, cited by 32% of respondents.

The areas of seen as the least drag on the abilities of internal resources is ‘fragmentation of compliance/regulations, cited by 19% of respondents, and management and governance issues, cited by 28% of respondents.

Going forward, the research finds that a majority of companies (57%) place ‘business continuity/disaster recovery’ as a high priority, while 33% give it a medium priority. Data leakage/data loss prevention comes in first equal, also cited by 57% of respondents as an area of high priority. Raising the security awareness of staff through training is the third highest priority, cited by 55% of respondents, while implementing security operations takes fourth spot with 52% of respondents.

The research found that the areas of least priority for companies surveyed is ‘securing cryptocurrencies’, cited by 76% of respondents as a low priority and 6% as a high priority, securing emerging technologies comes second, cited by 67% of respondents as a low priority and 8% as a high priority, followed by robotic process automation, cited by 69% of respondents as a low priority and 8% as a high priority.

Matt Chambers, EY Global Power & Utilities, Risk and Cybersecurity Leader, says, “Cybersecurity efforts must evolve with advancing technology. The proliferation of digital devices and the convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) environments are creating new efficiencies and business improvements but are also increasing the attack surface of power and utility companies. Now, with attackers casting their sights on bigger targets, critical infrastructure is more at risk than ever before.”